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The history

This is about my Tostedter Trick Box (manual)


You can see some holes at the side. There’re also some on the bottom. On the top there’re two kobs with stacks roughly 3 cm long. On the door I mounted some protections for childs:


The cacher has to find the two right holes to open the door. Behind each hole is such a protection, so the cacher can’t easily find the right wholes.


This is about my Tostedter Trick Box (electrical)

After placinf the manual version, I built an electrical one. This cache is the one with the most fav points: 71 from September, 7th last year up to today (4/28/2015).


The cacher has to answer 8 questions (like: What’s the fasted animal on earth? A: Cheetah or B: peregrine falcon — Answer B is correct!) By surprise there’s also a hint: When thinking about my birthday (in German: 24.03.1954) an even number means switch up, non-even ones switch down. The lock is an electrical door lock:



This is about my Tostedter Audi! Cache


This is a small 3 stage multi, but a liitle bit unique: The niciest station isn’t the final but the start. I built all the electronics stuff including an USB stick with my message into a dirstribution box. And this box is located inside a lock&lock container. When connecting the batterie, the cacher will learn about the naming of the car brand Audi. (Mr. Horch (German impressive of to listen) had to leave his own, very famous company and built up a new one, but he wasn’t allowed to use his own name. So the son of a colleague of him had the idea to translate exactly to Latin and the car company Audi was born…)


And here’s a picture of my Tostedter Lego Cache:

(muggled, not existing anymore…)



This is about my Tostedter Twist Cache, I’m just working on:

This is the label at station 1. It tells about the name, is asking every muggle discovering it not to destroy it and is telling a little bit about geocaching.


Station 1:

I’m using a key box made of bamboo for the start:


Inside I put an additional board to the rear. I sunk some neodym magnets into it, building all together 4 figures. "By surprise“ my birthday…

This figures are needed to find the second station.

On top of the magnets I put a thick black plastic sheet to make the magnets (figures) invisible. Outside the box there’s a petling with iron grain. The cacher has to fill some grain onto the plastik and than to shake (twist) the box and the figures will become visible.





The petling on the left is containing the iron grain. The one on the right goes through the wall and is for removing the grain from the plastic after the puzzle being solved. It’s working much better than with a separate magnet as I tried first.


Update 12/28/2016:

Kent from the States wants to build a cache based on station 1 and asked me about „gathering the iron shaving“. Yes, that’s something I’ve learned in addition. „Grain“ sounded soooo good for my German ears, but „shaving“ is the right word. Here’s a picture I sent him to understand better:

screen-capture-3



Station 2:

Nothing great, only a magnetic petling under a pylon offering the coordinate to the third station…

I moved that station also, because some cacher chosed the direct way to station 3 and already found the final.

But the coordinates are a little bit encrypted by the color codes of electrical resistors:



Station 3:

As you, Tim, I’m loving bird houses. But sometimes I’m too lasy to built them... This was a very cheap one, I bought at Amazon. The front can be opened widly so it’s very easy to do some work inside the bird house:


Behind the hole there’s a petling containing a 7 segment display (being quite the opposite of cheap!). Because the name of the cache is „Twist“, the cacher has to turn the bird house with the roof down, to start the display flashing the next coordinates. This is why the bird house is mounted at the tree in a way, the cacher is abble to easily turn it upside down. By releasing the bird house it will turn back with the roof up automatically.



To manage the display flashing when the bird house it turned upside down, I integrated into the cable (all inside the petling) the tilt switch below. Normally you need to use a torch to activate the display. But it also starts when receiving power. An unexpected advantage of the tilt switch...



Station 4:

It’s a sticker fitted on a power distribution box (In Germany it’s not so easy to find one not built with plastic only.). This box is quite large and the doors made of iron. The sticker tells „Please don’t stick advertisement! Many Thanks“. On the right there’s a QR code and in the middle you can see the GC logo. So easy? No!!! The QR code is just telling, that the solution is quite near, but the coordinates aren't given. 

So, what to do? The sticker is printed on magnetic paper. Yes, you’re really able to buy such paper at Amazon and print on it directly with your ink jet printer. On the dark grey magnetic rear I penciled using a white Edding the coordinates to the next station. So the cacher has to realize, that he has to unfit the magnetic sticker and to turn (twist) it, to find the coordinates.



Station 5:

A magnetic petling at a rusty garden fence containing the same 7 segment display as station 3. (Noooo!!! I didn’t got them cheaper, because I bought 2!) But with a difference: You need a magnet, to activate it and to receive the coordinates for the final… When placing the magnet near to the display, it starts flashing.


Unfortunately this station is lost (I think, it was stolen…). I replaced it with a new petling and a sheet of paper in it for the coordinates...


Station 6 - The final called „All you need is nothing“

The final is inspired by your GC4XRDN cache, even if it’s looking so different. Because here’s quite rainy, the cache isn’t made of „usual“ wood and painted but of a douglas fir, which is fine for outside without any painting. I used the same fir for my Scratchy cache:

 

As you’ll see the drawer is still missing. It will be built by a colleague of mine (because my attempt ended sooooo messy) and also like with Tim’s cache the drawer is containing a lot of stuff which is totally useless. The only sense of that stuff is to confuse the cacher! Tim, you’ll see, that the main ideas of your cache are used by me. But I’m not turning a light on, but opening the door of the cache by a magnetic lock. The other big difference you’ll see on the right picture is the bigger wooden wheel. It goes through the wall and has it’s counterpart inside:

Turning the outside wheel to the right layer, the tilt switch will activate the main power. (The batterie on the left will be replaced by 2 6V ones giving 12V.) When the wheel is turned (twisted) to the right layer, a red led will turn on above the drawer, showing a „Power On“ to the cacher. When pressing the drawer inside the cache, a switch as with your cache will give power to the magnet and open the door. Behind this door the cache, a Lock&Lock box, is located. In front of the drawer you can see the content. Very tricky is the red and white cable, which lets the cacher think, it’s needed for the left side...


The length of the white and red cable is matching with the white and black connector. But the cables of the connectors have their end inside the wall. They are for nothing!


Also the switch makes the same sense than the resistor: Nonsense!

The green and red pin are also only installed to confuse the catcher…


Meanwhile I placed the final batteries inside the cache. Two CR-2P are combined to offer 12V. I placed them in holders.





As you can see the batteries are placed in holders which are fixed on a piece of wood. Three screws (from outside) are fitting the wood on the cache. So a replacement of the batteries should be quite easily to perform…


Thanks Tim for your inspiration!


This cache was placed on 4/12/2015 and the listing sent for review at 09:50… Let’s see what the logs will tell about my work.


Continued on 4/22/2015

On 4/18/2015 the cache has been published at 8:01


and the FTF was reported at 8:52:


Translation for WVTim:

FTF at 8:52

When receiving the publish mail our coffee wasn’t drunken completely. But Andy and me hurried to Kakensdorf as being crazy, because a FTF was possible.

We quickly found station 1 (We’re hoping it won’t be discovered soon by muggles) and after some shaking and stirring the figures became visible. So we sarted for station 2. When crossing the road at the traffic light, we just met Olaf in his car. He wished „good luck“ (it helped - Thanks!). On the way to station 2 we became a little bit confused. Should that place the right one? But, at the end, we discovered something and the way was free to go to station 3. Arriving there we tried, what would be „usual“, but without success. We looked into the hint, and suddenly the next coordinates were shown.

So, up for the 4th station. Quite quickly we discovered Olaf’s „handwriting“ and noted the coordinates. At station 5 the pressure increased, because up to now we didn’t met any other cacher. We looked for something quite different but suddenly Andy discovered the right thing. We’ve already discovered something like this at a night cache, so we knew what to do.

On the way to the final we met „MetalMachine“, who was just on the way to station 2. („Hello“ again, but there was no time to chat. You’ll know why).

Arriving at the final we’ve been completely confused at the beginning. Hmmm??? What we should try here? Suddenly it became very noisy and we got very frightened. But the way was free to discover the final cache. We felt to be on cloud nine when signing the virgin log book. Now we were able to return to home with a new FTF in our pockets.

Dear Olaf, this multi is really a technical pearl. Your richnes of ideas seems to be unlimited. We have been excited more and more at each station. None was similar to the others. The final is just about the limit, but a little bit nasty. Many thanks for this great work, which will be decorated by a blue slip knot of course. Thanks also for the certificate and the pin. Both will be presented at our home near to the others. We grabbed the geocoin and we’ll dropp it when being in Austria.


(also this one was muggled, not existing anymore…)


This is about my Tostedter Hi-Tech 2 Cache, I just placed today.

As you’ll probably discover, it’s based on your Hi-Tech:



As you can see, I created a hoist, to double the lenght the cache will come out. But even with some heavy iron on the flat I had to add a rubber band to bring the flat down again:


The cache was published today (5/2/2015) and a neighbor did the FTF…

(muggled, not existing anymore…)


In the meantime…

… I bought a circular saw bench mounted on a mobile roller stand. I bought this clever stand because my hobby room is very very small …



 

This is about my Tostedter Cash Cache 

The next cache I’m working on will be a multi again. The final will be inspired by your credit card cache. Different to you, I’ll do the printing on 200g/qm paper and will attach it to a bird house, I’m using as container. The slot for the card is between the two red wooden strips:






Yes, you’re right: I’m preparing you visting Germany and so the instructions are in English too (on the right door everything is in English!) :-)!

The first station will be something to find. Nothing spectacular, but a rock like this:



The second station will be a Lock&Lock with a lot of stuff in it. Beside there’s also a torch, but not working. Inside the torch there will be a „fake“ batterie containing the coordinates of the third station:




Inside this Lock&Lock there’s also a treasure map. But it’s also fake only. Using your mobile you can encrypt what’s written.  The meaning is: Go on looking for the next coordinates, this map won’t help…


About station 3: It’s a monster cache because of its size: 56 cm high, 12 cm broad and 28 cm deep… In the top compartment there’s a motorized antenna of a car and 2 6V big batteries giving 12V. At the bottom there’s a lock&lock. 12 screws are going through its bottom. 

When opening the container, the cacher will find 3 short cables with alligator clips. First the cacher has to „Power On“ the cache. How? By connecting the two top screws with a cable. After that he need to built two additional bridges. That’s a kind of puzzle. When having built the 2 correct bridges, the antenna will move out of the bottom of the container.

At the moment I’m looking for a good container, I’ll fix to the antenna (a whole is already done at the top of it…)



 




Ideas on station 4.: I’ll use an wireless door gong. The caches will receive the sender at station 3 and has to go near to station 4. When pressing the sender, he’ll hear the gong, which will be pretty fine hidden. The gong is inside a small wooden box. The holes on the front are to make the gong a little bit louder. Inside the box is a petling. The opening goes through the bottom. So the cacher will be able to find the next coordinates by opening the petlings cap from outside (the bottom).

I hope it will work to ask the cacher to bring back the sender to station 3 prior going to the final. But with a good planned route, this should work…

This station is already completely built - here’re some pictures:




Station 5: But I had an idea on another one (so the multi will have 6 stations). Just have a look:



It’s made of a plastic waste pipe. I made roughly 50 cm long cuts on both sides. Inside is another pipe with a bottom. On the top of this pipe 2 loops are going outside through the cuts. Two straps will bring a lot of force, when pulling the two loops down. Inside the small pipe is a petling containing the coordinates of the final. When pulling down and releasing, the inside pipe will jump up and the petling will have a nice flight…

Usually the main pipe is closed at the top to avoid rain flooding everything. But on the other hand it’s open at the bottom...

The pictures above are without the „artwork“, I’m just creating…


Station 6: I added another station called „Tangram“: I made a small box of Douglas fir. Inside is another plate of 10 x 10 cm and some pieces of paper (for sure laminated…). When putting all right together, it will look like this:







It’s the station just before the final, so the multi will consist of 7 stations... The text means: Alright, at the next station cash will be needed. For the owner! You’ll find the final at …. … and please, be a little bit generous! happy hunting is wishing th10gt…

(Final was muggeled, so the Tangram became the final)

(and now it’s archived…)


In the meantime: Visit of German Customs (6/26/2015)…

Yesterday I became aware, that the letter - still inside the envelope - from German Mail wasn’t advertisement. It said, there’s something lying at the customs for me. What else than the energy sticks you said, you would send me. Tiny disadvantage: Customs are roughly 100 km away from my home… 

Normally the sticks aren’t worth such a ride, but what would happen, if I wouldn’t pick them? Going back to the States creating additional cost and trouble (for you) again! So I decided today to stop work at early lunch time and to drive 1 hour to the customs.

The customs guy put the bag on the counter. Yes it was a plastic bag! 

„Do you know, what it is?“ he asked.

„Yes“, I said, „some electronic toy. Here’s a picture, I printed for you!“ 

„Interesting, but here’s written that it’s are clothes.“

„No, it’s are energy sticks! But the size of the bag is surprising me a little bit…“

„So please open the bag.“

I opened the bag and this was inside it:



I had completely forgotten, that I ordered this from Sun Frogs in the States many weeks ago. (Maybe not designed for a 61 years old guy, but, why not???) 

After finding the invoice on my laptop and sending it via eMail (USB stick not allowed with his PC) to him (using my iPhone as a private hot spot), I paid the customs and the VAT and left the building, dropped the bag in my car and decided to have a cigarette prior starting the ride back.

Prior I was able to lighten the cigarette, my mobile was ringing and my wife called me. She’s leading a nursery. She told me, that a letter from German Mail just arrived at the nursery and there’s written, I should pick something from customs. Exactly the same office, I just left. (What you can see? Germans are very precise in acting - even if it’s not logical, because there’re a lot of customs offices much nearer to my flat…)

I asked my wife to stay in the line, went back and told the customs guy, that there’s another shipment for me. I handed over the mobile and my wife directly gave him the identification code. He studied a large folder. Paperwork, for sure. We’re in a German government office and it’s already a big step ahead, that the PC is used for calculating the cost! 

He put it on the desk. Now it was a box. With another box in it, and inside 4 energy sticks. „Toy“ was stated outside the box but not the value. When I told him, the price and that it’s a gift from a „friend (!!!)“ in the States, I had to pay nothing but to sign a paper. And…. the box was mine!

If my wife would have called me 15 minutes later, or would have handed over the letter - as usual - in the afternoon without calling me, I would have to drive additional 2 * 100 km. What a lucky day, today! Great job of my wife!!!

©  Olaf Goette 2008 - 2022